Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a textile printing method, an inkjet ink for use in textile printing, and an electrophotographic toner for use in textile printing.
Description of the Related Art
Screen printing methods, roller printing methods, rotary-screen printing methods, gravure printing methods, and transfer printing methods employing the aforementioned printing methods are well-known as methods to draw a durable and fine pattern on a textile with dyes, and are applied in industries. However, the above-described methods, which are plate-making methods, have a limitation with respect to the number of colors. In printing using color-separated frames of the three primary colors, multiple color impression can be expressed. However, adjusting hue and concentration of dyes used to form the three primary colors is difficult. In a print process, the three primary colors are superimposed on each other. Accordingly, there is an issue of reproducibility of the print. In addition, there is a need to make a screen frame or an engraving roller for each change of a drawing pattern. In a small lot production, cost of making engraving becomes high. In a printing process, in addition to required amount of processing with respect to change of the drawing pattern in the printing process, there is a need to prepare surplus color paste. This increases material loss. To overcome the above-described issues, methods of direct printing to a fiber material (i.e., textile) are in practice. The direct printing reads an image of a pattern to be printed with a scanner, generates an image signal by a computer, and directly prints the image on a fiber material using an electrophotographic or inkjet method. In another example, a method of printing an image to a transfer sheet and transferring the printed image to the fiber material is in use.
In recent years, a textile printing method has been proposed, in which conventional engraving plate-making processes are omitted such that a time required for manufacturing is reduced. However, in this textile printing method, there is a need to employ ink including dyes appropriate for a textile type. Accordingly, many ink types are necessary. In a case of printing small lots of various prints with respect to various textile types, costs in ink tend to increase. In methods of direct printing to various textile types, unlike printing with respect to a paper, sharpness of the image significantly deteriorates due to bleeding of ink generated by capillary phenomenon of the fiber material. Capillary phenomenon is generated according to thickness of fibers, surface roughness, nap, concentration, or the like that is distinctive to the fiber material making texture and touch of the fiber material good. To overcome the bleeding of ink, there are various proposals for pre-processing with respect to the fiber material. However, there are issues such as reproducing texture distinctive to the fiber material that is lost due to the pre-processing, and fixation and solidification of dye printed to the fiber material. Particularly, in a case of inkjet printing of small dots of a dye liquid to a transfer sheet, it is pointed out that there is a lack of uniform affixation of the small dots to the fiber material from the transfer sheet, and a loss of fineness of the small dots on the fiber material due to bleeding of the dye liquid.
To overcome the lack of uniform affixation and the loss of fineness due to bleeding of the dye liquid, a method of employing a release agent coated sheet, serving as the transfer sheet, coated with a water soluble adhesive paste and then inkjet printing is proposed. However, the above-described proposed method is insufficient with regards to obtaining fineness of the drawing pattern. In a case of a dry transfer employing the above-described release agent coated sheet with the water soluble adhesive paste with respect to a textile of a cellulose based material or a protein based material, transfer of the dye liquid from the above-described release agent coated sheet with the water soluble adhesive paste to the textile has been not possible.
Textile printing employing electrophotographic methods are also well-known. With electrophotographic methods, high-resolution textile printing is possible in an on-demand manner. However, since an appropriate dye toner should be selected according to each textile type, it is desirable to simplify the processes as well as to reduce a number of types in supplies such as ink and toner.